One way

I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts.

The earth is filled with your love, O Lord.

Teach me your decrees.

Do good to your servant according to your word, O Lord.

Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word.

You are good, and what you do is good.

Teach me your decrees.

Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart.

Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law.

It was good for me to be afflicted, so that I might learn your decrees.

The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.

And the second reading is John chapter 14, verses 1 to 17.

John 14:1–17

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God.

Trust also in me.

In my Father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, I would have told you.

I'm going there to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me,

that you also may be where I am.

You know the way to the place where I am going.

Thomas said to him,

Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?

Jesus answered,

I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.

From now on, you do know him and have seen him.

Philip said,

Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.

Jesus answered,

Don't you know me, Philip, even after I've been among you such a long time?

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

How can you say, show us the Father?

Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

The words I say to you are not just my own.

Rather, it is the Father living in me who is doing his work.

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

Or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

I tell you the truth.

Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.

He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father.

And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.

If you love me, you will obey what I command.

And I will ask the Father and he will give you another counsellor to be with you forever.

The spirit of truth, the world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him.

But you know him for he lives with you and he will be in you.

Good evening everyone.

Great to be here.

Let me pray that God would help us understand his word tonight.

Father God, we do pray for your spirit to be with us now.

Your word says here in John that your spirit will come and lead us into all truth.

And so we ask that you might do that for us now.

Lord, you know the wrestle that has happened over this passage.

And so Lord, I pray that in spite of my inadequacies that you would pour out your spirit to help us to understand it.

Bring us clarity as you promised you will by your spirit so that we might see the glory of Jesus and love him and love his word and seek to obey him.

And we ask it for your sake.

Amen.

The departures level at an international airport is very different than the arrivals level.

In departures, if you've been there, you'll notice that there are tears, apprehension, uncertainty, even fear on some people's faces.

But on the arrival level, there is joy and hugs and kisses and balloons and gifts and all sorts of other stuff like that.

What I've noticed is on the departure level, just before you go through into customs where only those who hold tickets are allowed to go,

people tend to linger in that area, making it very frustrating for people like myself who just want to go through.

People linger and there's just hugs and there's tears and the last sort of hugs.

And we come back and we have another hug and it's like, oh, come on, you know, just get on with it.

But it's particularly, in fact, last time I went there, there was customs guys shooing people out who decided they're going to follow their family in.

It's particularly disappointing or heart-wrenching, I suppose, when you see children saying goodbye to mum or dad or someone like that

and just tears running down their face and they just can't go through that door and follow them through into the building.

However, there's not the same kind of lingering at arrivals.

You don't want to get to the doorway to walk out of customs.

Go, let's get a last glimpse of customs before I cruise on out into the arrival hall.

It's like, no lingering, get my bag, you know, get out of the way, dogs.

I just want to go straight through.

No lingering, get straight to the people who are awaiting me at the other end.

Well, I don't know, I'm assuming you've picked this up in the last couple of weeks,

but when we look into John 13 to 17 as we are at the moment, we are in the departure terminal.

That's where we are.

Jesus is spending the last few hours with his disciples before his departure,

before he's arrested, his trial and his execution.

And so the atmosphere in the large upper room is tense.

It's unhappy.

It's uncertain.

The news that Jesus was leaving was the worst possible news for the disciples.

The thought of life without Jesus was almost too much for them to bear.

Of course, the irony is on this night that it is Jesus who is about to go to the agony of the cross.

And as it says in chapter 13, verse 21, it is Jesus who is troubled in spirit in this moment.

But on the night where it would have been appropriate for the disciples to comfort Jesus

and to give Jesus some kind of support, they can only see their loss.

On the night that he's going to taste death on their behalf,

he speaks to their confused bewilderment, their fickle faith, their dim vision and their self-absorption.

He begins in verse 1,

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God.

Trust also in me.

To demand untroubled hearts would be cruel and it would be empty advice

if Jesus hadn't also spoken on the basis of which such untroubled hearts could be accomplished.

And he says it there.

It's trust.

He says, trust in God the Father.

Trust in himself.

Trust in God.

Trust in me.

Is what he says.

And it is a massive claim.

Jesus is saying something very significant about himself with that statement.

But I suspect it has slipped right by the disciples.

And so what Jesus does is, in these first few verses of John 14,

is he reviews some of his earlier teaching on who is Jesus for the slow learners,

which is basically all of them.

Which is quite comforting for people like me, that there are others out there as well.

And so in verses 2 to 7,

Jesus lays out three great truths that must be believed

if the disciples have any comfort at all with the departure of Jesus.

Three big truths about Jesus and what he will achieve.

So firstly, that Jesus isn't just simply going away,

but that his going away is to his Father's spacious house

and in getting there to prepare a place for his disciples.

So it says there,

In my Father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, I would have told you I'm going there to prepare a place for you.

So that's a verse which, most often than not,

it's used in funerals to bring some sort of comfort.

But the bottom line here of Jesus' assurance to the disciples

is that although he is returning to the Father,

he will one day be united with his disciples again

because he goes to prepare a place for them,

a permanent dwelling in the presence of God.

Well, why does he need to do that?

Why does he need to clear off?

Why does he need to depart in order to go and do that?

I mean, at the beginning of John's Gospel,

it says that Jesus is God's agent in creation.

He speaks and worlds come into existence.

So why is it taking so long to fix up a few rooms?

Or maybe quite a few rooms.

2,000 years at the moment.

The key is this.

The departure of Jesus in John's Gospel is referred to a number of different ways,

but it all refers to one event.

His return to his Father by way of the cross and resurrection.

So Jesus is not saying,

I'm going back to the Father's house so that after I get there,

I'll be able to get some rooms ready for you,

make up some beds and put out some flowers or whatever it might be.

Instead, he's saying,

I'm returning to the Father's house in order that the very return may be the way I prepare the place.

It is the way he departs which prepares the place for us in the Father's house.

The rooms with God are prepared via the cross.

That is the truth of his departure.

And if it is believed,

then their trust in God and in Jesus will triumph over doubts and troubled minds.

That's the first thing they must believe.

The faith of these first disciples will be stable and strong in proportion

as it rests in Jesus,

as it does in God,

believing that Jesus' departure via the cross

was a return to the Father's presence,

a return to the Father's presence,

which has opened up the presence of God to them.

There's 12 guys sitting in a room with him.

11 now, actually.

The faith of 21st century disciples of Jesus

will be stable and strong in proportion

as it rests in Jesus,

as it does in God,

believing that Jesus' departure via the cross

was a return to the Father's presence,

a return that has opened up the presence of God for us.

The second truth that must be believed

that the disciples have any comfort is in verse 3.

And if I go to prepare a place for you,

I will come back and take you to be with me,

that you also may be where I am.

So what the promise here is,

Jesus will return and he will fetch his own

and take them to be with him.

It's an intensely personal promise.

I am going to prepare a place for you.

I will come back and take you to be with me,

that you also will be where I am.

What troubles the disciples here

is the sense of abandonment.

But Jesus makes it clear that his departure

is the necessary preparation for them joining him.

He assures them that they are not losing him,

they are in fact gaining him.

He will come back and he will take them to be where he is.

It is the supreme hope of the church.

That Christ will come back

and he will take us to be with him.

But in waiting for him now,

we must never lose sight of the most blessed thing

about the second coming of Christ.

It is to be with Christ.

That's the best bit.

It is true that when Jesus comes back,

this world as we know it will wind up.

History will end.

Moral chaos and human rebellion will cease.

It is true that the second coming of Christ

means that this world is not out of control.

It has a future.

It's heading somewhere.

It has purpose.

It has meaning.

But the greatest thing about the second coming of Christ

is it means that we will be with Christ.

We get Christ.

We get Jesus, the presence of Jesus.

It's not even that we get heaven per se.

It is not the arrival of final and decisive judgment.

It is not the end of disease and sickness and pain.

It is Jesus to see him face to face.

The third truth that must be believed

if the disciples did have any comfort with Jesus' departure

is in verse 4.

You know the way to the place where I'm going.

Thomas said to him,

Lord, we don't know where you're going,

so how can we know the way?

Jesus answered,

The third comfort is that Jesus' disciples know the way to the place where he's going.

But apparently they don't.

You see, you're confused Thomas pipes in,

although the others are probably thinking it,

in verse 5.

Lord, we don't know where you're going,

so how can we know the way?

There's something very attractive about this Thomas.

He doesn't bluff.

He doesn't sort of sit back there and, you know,

rub his chin and nod wisely

as if he knows exactly what Jesus is saying

when he's got no idea what he's saying.

But he's actually probably more ignorant than he thinks.

Notice what he says here.

Have a look at it.

Verse 5.

We don't know where you are going,

so how can we know the way?

Not only does he not know the way to the Father's presence,

but he's making the assumption

that the way that Jesus gets to the Father's presence

is the way that the disciples get to the Father's presence.

If Jesus had gone that way,

then we would naturally just follow Jesus.

And so Jesus,

sensitive to Thomas' misunderstanding,

stops talking about his own departure

and way to the Father

and starts talking about the way Thomas

and the disciples must travel.

Verse 6.

I am the way

and the truth

and the life.

No one comes to the Father

except through me.

The way of Jesus to the Father's presence

is via the cross

and the way of the disciples

to the Father's presence

is Jesus.

It's Jesus.

He is the way.

He who was betrayed by an apostle,

disowned by another apostle,

abandoned by the rest of the apostles,

condemned by lying witnesses.

This Jesus is the truth.

It's not just that he speaks truth,

but that he is truth.

He is truth in bodily form

just as he was loving bodily form

and holiness in bodily form.

He unveils the truth of God.

He reveals God to us.

And he who died condemned

through his death

allows others to have life.

The triple claim here is staggering.

He is not saying that he is another way

to the Father's presence.

He is saying he is the way

and the truth

and the life.

There is no other option.

This is the answer to Thomas' question.

He is the way.

Jesus is the way to the Father

for the disciples.

And with that statement,

we have now gone back to verse 1.

Trust in God.

Trust also in me.

Stable, serene, triumphant faith

between the first and second comings of Jesus

has Jesus as its object.

But is that enough comfort for the disciples?

Great to know Jesus.

You're going to depart.

You're going to open up a way.

We're going to get to the Father's presence.

You're preparing some rooms for us.

Fantastic.

But it all just seems so distant.

It seems so future.

What about now, Jesus?

The reality is we're still sitting in the departure lounge

and you're going to leave.

You're still going.

What about now?

Verse 16.

And I will ask the Father

and he will give you another counselor

to be with you forever.

The spirit of truth.

Jesus says to his grieving disciples,

I am going to the Father

and he will send you another counselor.

Another, meaning literally,

of the same kind.

Doing just the work that Jesus was doing.

Just like Jesus.

And according to verse 16,

this other counselor

is going to come and be with them forever.

This other counselor will not depart

like Jesus has departed.

Is that not what you need

when you're feeling abandoned?

Is it not what you need?

Is this not a comfort to the disciples,

do you think?

A permanent counselor?

Any ideas?

The odd nod of a head would be great.

Is this not what the disciples needed?

I don't think so.

I'll tell you why.

I'm standing at the door in the customs.

I've got my ticket.

Nat's got her ticket.

And we say to Isabel and Phoebe,

we're going away.

We're going away for a while.

We just got some business we need to attend to.

We'll sort it out.

And when we come back at some point,

we'll take you with us

and you'll come with us.

But we don't know when that will be,

but it'll be sometime in the future.

What do you mean?

They're going to be staggered at that point.

But don't worry.

We're going to...

We've already asked a relative

who you've never met before

to come in and look after you

until we're gone.

Oh, fantastic.

Do you think that's great news for them?

They want...

Jesus is what they want.

And so it's not a comfort

until you get verse 16

and you match it with verse 23

and the staggering implications.

If anyone loves me,

he will obey my teaching.

My Father will love him

and we,

Jesus and the Father,

will come to him

and make our home with him.

Notice the word home here.

Let's just hone in on this.

If you haven't got a Bible open,

you really need a Bible open.

Seriously.

And because I'm going to get to a point

later in the sermon,

you're going to feel guilty

if you haven't got a Bible open right now.

Notice the word home in verse 23.

It is a rare word in the New Testament.

In fact,

it is only used in one other place

in the New Testament.

And it's used in verse 2 of John 14

where it is translated rooms.

In verse 2,

Jesus says that by going to the cross,

he is preparing a room,

a dwelling place with the Father.

But in verse 23,

Jesus is saying

that he's going to prepare in us

a home,

a dwelling place,

a room for him and his Father.

The departure of Jesus

to the Father via the cross

is going to prepare two things.

A room for us

with the Father and the Son

in heaven

in eternal bliss

and a room for the Father

and the Son

with us here

on earth

now.

That

is good news.

That is what they wanted to hear.

Not just a place with God

at some point in the future,

good thing,

great thing to look forward to,

but a place for God

with us here

right now.

The coming of the Spirit

who will never leave

will unite

the Father and the Son

with the disciple.

Jesus is

not distant.

His disciples

have not been abandoned.

I actually think

that Jesus

is saying here

to his bewildered disciples

when the Spirit comes

it will in fact

be better.

He actually says

before you're good

that I depart.

And I think he's saying

the reason is

because when the Spirit comes

it will be better.

It's not going to be as good

as when we get to heaven.

That's going to be fantastic.

But it's going to be better

than what it was

for the last three years.

His presence

will be permanent

with us

is what he's saying.

And so how do we,

how does the Spirit do that?

How does the Spirit

connect us

so that we have

the presence of Christ

and the Father now?

Well,

now that we know

the way

to the Father's presence

is Jesus

and for the Father's presence

with us

is Jesus.

we also need to remember

the Holy Spirit

has come

so that we will not forget

that Jesus is also the truth.

Verse 26,

the Counselor,

the Holy Spirit

and the Father

will send in my name

will teach you all things

and will remind you

of everything

I've said to you.

The Spirit will teach

the disciples

referring specifically

to these 12 dudes,

11 dudes

sitting with Jesus

in his upper room

teach the disciples

all things

and remind them

of everything

that Jesus said.

See,

and this is fantastic

because up until this point

these blokes

have been

basically quite confused.

They have been

characterized

by misunderstanding

as to the person

of Jesus.

We even see it

at the beginning there

of John 14.

And all of this

is going to change

when the Spirit arrives.

That's one of the reasons

it's going to be better

when the Spirit comes

because there will be clarity

on the person of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit

will come

and will teach

from exactly

the same syllabus

that Jesus

has been teaching from.

He will,

as it says in verse 26,

remind them of

and take them back

to the teaching of Jesus.

The Spirit would ensure

that these original disciples

would not forget Jesus,

would ensure

that they have

absolute clarity

on Jesus,

on his life

and his commandments

and his teaching.

salvation.

Well, that's great for them

but what about us?

I mean, I wasn't there

when Jesus taught.

I didn't walk with Jesus

and eat with him

and listen to him

and

how do we know

the presence of Jesus now?

How can I get his comfort

while I wait for him

to return now?

Well,

I think it's

verse 21 of 14,

Jesus says

that he will

show himself

and in chapter 17

verse 20,

Jesus prays this prayer.

My prayer is not

for them alone,

talking about

his original disciples,

the ones that are

sitting there

in the room with him.

I pray also

for those

who will believe

in me

through

their

message.

Jesus

reveals himself

to us

through

their

message.

The same Holy Spirit

that helped them

to remember

Jesus

is the same Holy Spirit

that helps us

to see Jesus

in what they have

written.

We experience

the presence

and the promise

and the comfort

and the truth

of Jesus

in what they

have written.

The Word of God.

The Spirit

takes

the Word of God

and makes it

come alive.

That is one reason.

In fact,

I would suggest

it's the main reason

why we have

Christ-centered

Bible saturation

as one of our

core values.

Jesus.

Why do I have

that?

Because I want

Jesus.

I want the

presence of

Jesus.

Preaching,

journaling,

quiet times,

Bible study,

whatever you want

to call it,

they are all

the backbone

of stable faith.

Bible study.

The Bible is our

standard of faith

and conduct

and leads us

to know Jesus

and see Jesus

and believe Jesus

and trust Jesus

and treasure Jesus

and experience

the presence

of Jesus.

you see,

we don't just gather

here week after

week just to have

the Bible

explained.

It's not just about

gathering knowledge.

I mean,

I used to do that

for many years

of my ministry.

I'd get up

and I'd pray,

Lord,

help me to explain

the Bible.

Well,

that's good,

but that's one step

back.

I mean,

you explain the Bible

so that you might

see Jesus.

That's the point.

that's why you've

got to work hard

to explain it well

so that you might

see Jesus.

Explaining,

it's not just the end.

That's not the end of it.

The work of the Spirit

is not simply

the revelation

of truth to be known,

but that this clarity

might lead us

to something

so that we might

love Jesus

and treasure Jesus.

And so,

one of the clear marks

of the work

of the Spirit

in a Christian's life

is that they do,

in fact,

love Jesus

and savour Jesus

and treasure Jesus

and how do we know

if we love Jesus?

Jesus,

in fact,

makes it four times,

he says,

it makes it very clear

in John 14

what it means

to love him.

How do we know

that we love him?

Verse 15,

if you love me,

you will obey

what I command.

Verse 21,

whoever has my commands

and obeys them,

he is the one

who loves me.

Verse 23,

if anyone loves me,

he will obey my teaching.

Verse 24,

he who does not love me

will not obey

my teaching.

The test

of authentic love

of Christ

and the clear evidence

that you are united

with Christ

by the Spirit

is whether you obey

his commands

and his teaching.

The possibility

here for these disciples

of the abandonment

of Jesus

was just shocking

for them.

He speaks

to their confused

bewilderment,

their fickle faith,

their dim vision,

their self-absorption

and how does he

deal

with

their great concern

that Jesus

is departing?

By focusing

the attention

on himself.

He doesn't say,

okay guys,

I'm going,

but I'm going to send

a counselor,

he'll take care of you,

he'll sort of like

sort things out

until I come back again.

He's going to be

my proxy.

that's not the comfort.

And it's not

some sort of

cheap comfort,

a simple slap

on the back

and a quick hug

and a nice little

card or a casserole

for them to take home.

Comfort for the

disciples here

is intensely

focused on the

person of Jesus.

And the Spirit

will come

to make sure

the spotlight

stays on the way,

the truth

and the life.

And so if you are

a struggling disciple

right now,

I want you to know

that there are

no quick fixes,

no shortcuts,

no techniques,

no extra spiritual

blessing

that will make you

stable,

that will make you

comforted

as a disciple

of Jesus

while you wait

for him to come.

you want to know

Jesus,

you want to love

him,

you want to

treasure him,

you want to

experience

the presence

of Christ,

you'll find it

in the scriptures.

The Spirit

of God

will make

those words

on pages

come alive

and you

will see

Christ.

That's the work

of the Spirit,

one of the works

of the Spirit.

There are no

quick fixes,

just the earnest

discipline searching

the scriptures

in the power of

the Spirit

to see Christ,

to know his

presence and his

comfort.

I work hard

not just to do

Bible study,

I work hard

to commune

with Christ

in the scriptures,

to commune

with Christ

in the scriptures.

It's a real shame

that he's very

hard to understand

but it would all

do us very well

to read John

Owen.

He's incredibly

difficult to

understand

but it would do

us very well

to read

John Owen's

communion with

God.

If we are not

consistently

searching the

scriptures for

communion with

God,

then our

faith will

be fickle,

we will be

disillusioned,

discouraged,

we will feel

abandoned by

God

regularly.

And so it's

a great concern

for me that

over 70% of

Christians don't

see the Bible

as crucial for

their faith.

They don't see

the Bible as

crucial for

their faith.

In the

struggles and

the battles of

living in this

world as

followers of

Christ, we

are not

alone.

Jesus is

with us

and the

Spirit is

helping us to

see Jesus in

the scriptures

and if you're

not reading the

scriptures, you're

not seeing

Jesus.

You won't

find him

somewhere else.

God, I

want to

see the

truth.

He is the

truth and he is

the life and the

Holy Spirit makes

sure that we know

it, that we know

Jesus and see Jesus and

that we experience his

presence and his

comfort.

He has not

abandoned us.

If you are fickle,

you're struggling in

your faith, pick up

your Bible and read it

and ask God, the

Spirit, to bring

illumination that you

might see the glory of

God in the face of

Christ.

Let's pray.

Father God, pour out

your Spirit upon your

people here, we pray, so

that when we come to

your word, it's not

just an intellectual

exercise of just

wanting to

understand a book.

God forbid that we

would stop there.

Father, we pray that we

would earnestly study

your word, not just to

simply gain knowledge,

but to commune with

you.

Father, give us, I

pray, mercifully give

us a glimpse of what,

give us a taste of what

that's like in such a

way that we would

desire not just a taste,

but to desire to feast

on you and your word,

that we might see the

glory of you in the

face of Christ.

And we ask it for your

sake.

Amen.